【英语语言学习】大麻的合理使用与滥用

This is For The Record.

Public perceptions of marijuana have come a long way. Once a symbol of the counterculture, now pot is a part of the culture. In the state of Colorado, it's part of the everyday culture.

(SOUNDBITE OF NEWS REPORTS)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #1: History made in Colorado today. Recreational marijuana is now legal.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #2: Recreational use of marijuana now officially legal in the state that gave us "Rocky Mountain High."

MARTIN: Colorado has allowed medical marijuana since 2001, but voters amended¹ the state constitution to allow private marijuana consumption for adults age 21 or older. It's called Amendment² 64. And the first-ever stores to sell state-regulated recreational pot threw open their doors January 1, 2014. News satire³ shows had a field day. And even the real news anchors couldn't help themselves. Here's NBC's Lester Holt and Brian Williams.

(SOUNDBITE OF NBC NEWS)

LESTER HOLT: You know, there are certain things you don't ever expect to see on TV, and one of them is it's been a good night for pot smokers⁴. There were several - there were several initiatives in the ballot⁵.

BRIAN WILLIAMS: Try to keep your personal life out of it.

MARTIN: But the new law has raised serious concerns for parents and those working to keep young people away from drugs. For The Record today - parenting through the pot laws.

We're going to hear three different viewpoints on this. First, a parent with an unusual perspective from inside the industry.

JULIE DOOLEY: My name is Julie Dooley and I am a manufacturer of infused products here in Denver, Colo. I'm also a mother of three teenagers. I have been a supporter of the use of cannabis pretty much as long as I can remember.

MARTIN: Dooley has been making medical marijuana since it was legalized. And the new law has just expanded her business opportunities. Because she's been in the pot business so long, she's been talking with her kids about it for a while. So when the law changed...

DOOLEY: It was a much happier conversation. The positive effect that marijuana being legalized in this country will have - that's the conversation that we were having in our house.

OFFICER TINA THOMPSON: There's a real mixed message coming from the media to these kids.

MARTIN: This is Tina Thompson.

THOMPSON: I am a police officer with the Aspen Police Department, assigned to the school district. My title is School Resource Officer. They have a hard time seeing it as, you know, why is this a medicine and it's OK for certain adults, maybe even mom and dad, but it's not OK for me.

MARTIN: So her police department has ramped⁶ up its prevention program. In part, she says, because there's a lot of pressure from parents anxious about the new law. The department brings doctors into the schools to talk about the effects of using marijuana. They also bring in former addicts⁷ to try to give students a fuller picture of what habitual⁸ drug use can do.

THOMPSON: The message we're really trying to give to these kids is just delay, delay, delay. We're not trying to demonize marijuana. We just want to let these kids know that the longer they wait, the more developed their brain is and the less likely they will become addicted⁹, or any of the harmful side effects of marijuana that we know.

MARTIN: Susie Bosley is a middle school health teacher in Boulder¹⁰.

SUSIE BOSLEY: We're trying to keep enforcing the message that this is not OK for adolescents. We have even more research than we did before to back that up.

MARTIN: Bosley remembers the night the law was approved, making pot legal for recreational use.

BOSLEY: In a moment of despair, that night that it passed, I even went online and was like, can I do another job now? This is going to be too hard.

MARTIN: Hard because pot feels like it's just everywhere now. She says there's a local joke that there are more pot dispensaries than there are Starbucks. In fact, one of the dispensaries is called Starbuds. Bosley says the marketing¹¹ makes pot seem cool and fun and just not a big deal.

BOSLEY: They sell T-shirts and stickers. So the marketing turns it into a joke.

MARTIN: Another big concern is edible¹² marijuana.

BOSLEY: They imitate brand-name candies - 3 Rastateers, Keef-Kat, Buddahfinger, MunchyWay, sodas¹³, chips. Every food you can imagine is made with THC.

MARTIN: Here's Julie Dooley.

DOOLEY: We've always sold a granola. We've always sold a granola bar and roasted seed mix. And I always infused in cannabutter. It's a healthy morning breakfast. Some people like it just sprinkled on their ice cream for dessert.

MARTIN: Dooley says she is conscious that these are products that might appeal to kids. She has tried to offset¹⁴ that with her packaging.

DOOLEY: It's child resistant¹⁵ upon the first opening - you're familiar with pill bottles from the pharmacy¹⁶ - similar packaging like that.

MARTIN: Even so, police officer Tina Thompson says she has seen cases where young kids have found their parents' pot and ingested themselves. And all the new edible products have made her job more difficult.

THOMPSON: There was a time where, you know, a kid would maybe leave campus and come back and anybody could sort of smell that kid or be able to point at that kid. But now, it's - you know, they may go to step off campus and use a vapor¹⁷ pen that doesn't have any odor and just step back on campus, and that's really hard for teachers to know, so it does make it difficult.

MARTIN: What's clear is that the new drug laws in Colorado have forced kids into some new territory. Health teacher Susie Bosley had a student come to her one day genuinely upset.

BOSLEY: There was no doubt this student had very loving parents. They've been supportive, they've been involved in school. But he said the new thing now is his relatives love to come visit. And everybody sits around in the house and gets high together in front of him.

MARTIN: Officer Tina Thompson sees it in how kids talk about pot now, with a new level of sophistication.

THOMPSON: We like to say there's always our one pot expert in the group. You know, the one kid that's very vocal¹⁸ and reads the High Times.

MARTIN: Julie Dooley's daughter may not read High Times, but she is that kid.

DOOLEY: She's the eighth grader who could tell any of them about it. And she will if they ask, but for the most part, she'd rather not talk about it.

MARTIN: Dooley says her business has also put her daughter in a tough spot. She remembers one incident.

DOOLEY: Boys came up to her and said your mom sells pot, and she must smoke pot all the time. And my daughter stood up and said no she doesn't and she works with cannabis. And there's nothing wrong with that.

MARTIN: Not all kids have such a deep understanding of pot. Many are going to push boundaries and try it, which they did before the new law. It is just more available now. Officer Thompson cites a study by a local prevention group.

THOMPSON: We have seen in the last couple years a trend that puts marijuana use above alcohol, definitely above tobacco, in our Valley.

MARTIN: Tina Thompson thinks about this issue as a police officer, but she is also a parent.

Lastly, I understand that you're a mom?

THOMPSON: Yes.

MARTIN: Two-year-old?

THOMPSON: Yeah. She's almost two. She'll be two in a couple weeks. Yeah.

MARTIN: Do you think about how this change will create a different kind of - a different kind of childhood for her than the one you had, at least when it comes to pressures around drug use or accessibility to marijuana in particular?

THOMPSON: Yeah. I mean, I think about it all the time. I think for any young kid coming up, young teenagers right now are definitely guinea pigs. And it's sort of scary to think that. You know, in ten years or whenever she's a teenager, our teenagers now will be, you know, in their twenties and thirties and we'll see how it has affected¹⁹ them.

MARTIN: That was Colorado police officer Tina Thompson, middle school health teacher Susie Bosley and pot manufacturer and mother of three, Julie Dooley.

1 Amended   

adj. 修正的 动词amend的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He asked to see the amended version. 他要求看修订本。
• He amended his speech by making some additions and deletions. 他对讲稿作了些增删修改。

2 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

3 satire   

n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品

参考例句：

• The movie is a clever satire on the advertising industry.那部影片是关于广告业的一部巧妙的讽刺作品。
• Satire is often a form of protest against injustice.讽刺往往是一种对不公正的抗议形式。

4 smokers   

吸烟者( smoker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily. 许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。
• Chain smokers don't care about the dangers of smoking. 烟鬼似乎不在乎吸烟带来的种种危害。

5 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

6 ramped   

土堤斜坡( ramp的过去式和过去分词 )； 斜道； 斜路； （装车或上下飞机的）活动梯

参考例句：

• With the arrival of George Lucas, the pace has ramped up. 随着乔治·卢卡斯的到来，速度大大加快。
• They also sold corporate bonds as the global financial crisis ramped up. 在全球金融危机加剧之际，他们还抛售了公司债券。

7 addicts   

有…瘾的人( addict的名词复数 )； 入迷的人

参考例句：

• a unit for rehabilitating drug addicts 帮助吸毒者恢复正常生活的机构
• There is counseling to help Internet addicts?even online. 有咨询机构帮助网络沉迷者。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

8 habitual   

adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的

参考例句：

• He is a habitual criminal.他是一个惯犯。
• They are habitual visitors to our house.他们是我家的常客。

9 addicted   

adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的

参考例句：

• He was addicted to heroin at the age of 17.他17岁的时候对海洛因上了瘾。
• She's become addicted to love stories.她迷上了爱情小说。

10 boulder   

n.巨砾；卵石，圆石

参考例句：

• We all heaved together and removed the boulder.大家一齐用劲，把大石头搬开了。
• He stepped clear of the boulder.他从大石头后面走了出来。

11 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

12 edible   

n.食品，食物；adj.可食用的

参考例句：

• Edible wild herbs kept us from dying of starvation.我们靠着野菜才没被饿死。
• This kind of mushroom is edible,but that kind is not.这种蘑菇吃得，那种吃不得。

13 sodas   

n.苏打( soda的名词复数 )；碱；苏打水；汽水

参考例句：

• There are plenty of sodas in the refrigerator. 冰箱里有很多碳酸饮料。 来自辞典例句
• Two whisky and sodas, please. 请来两杯威士忌苏打。 来自辞典例句

14 offset   

n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿

参考例句：

• Their wage increases would be offset by higher prices.他们增加的工资会被物价上涨所抵消。
• He put up his prices to offset the increased cost of materials.他提高了售价以补偿材料成本的增加。

15 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

16 pharmacy   

n.药房，药剂学，制药业，配药业，一批备用药品

参考例句：

• She works at the pharmacy.她在药房工作。
• Modern pharmacy has solved the problem of sleeplessness.现代制药学已经解决了失眠问题。

17 vapor   

n.蒸汽，雾气

参考例句：

• The cold wind condenses vapor into rain.冷风使水蒸气凝结成雨。
• This new machine sometimes transpires a lot of hot vapor.这部机器有时排出大量的热气。

18 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

19 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。